About a week ago, my Tivo let me know that SPEED channel in HD had been added to my Comcast lineup at channel 731. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked since then. Looking at the conditional access cablecard screen. I see "Auth: NOT_SUBSCRIBED". This strikes me as odd since I can get the SPEED in SD.

So I call in to Comcast support, and get a very nice old lady. She tried her darndest to help, but could find nothing in her system saying that the SF Bay Area had SPEED in HD; especially on channel 731. At that point I wrote it off as a scheduling misunderstanding between Comcast and Tivo, and that Comcast would eventually somday be adding the channel.

The odd thing is, I was over at my cousin's house a couple of days ago, and she has the Motorola HD STB from Comcast. It also claimed SPEED HD was on 731; but also just displayed some sort of "Channel unavailable" message when I tried to watch.

Anyone know whats going on? Think I should play CSR roulette with Comcast a few more times?

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I have the same thing going on. I get Speed Channel in SD on channel 408 but the HD channel 731 is black. I hope it gets sorted out before race season starts.

Given past service quality, I'm not very optimistic about Comcast in my area. My area has only been Comcast for about 2 years now. It used to be Adelphia.

I agree 100% - Previous Adelphia Customers who are now Comcast
are usually the worse Customer Service Areas.

Part of the difficulty is Adelphia Systems were so different from Comcast
the transition is extremely difficult to get the two old systems to work
together.

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Tell me about it! Comcast has gone through several iterations of slowly getting the billing to be the same and every time they manage to mess up my bill which in turns messes with my cableCARD activation. My last bill went from $130 to $180 with no change in service as they eliminated the final vestiges of Adelphia's old SilverPAK bundles but somehow managed to not remove the $49.99 base cable charge while adding the new $78.95 digital preferred with 1 pay charge (remaining costs are for Internet service). I called billing and they fixed it but in doing so they managed to disable most of the digital channels and HBO so I had to call tech support who fixed that! I can't wait to see what the bill looks like next month.

I don't have a problem with Comcast's cable or Internet service in my area but we are definitely still going through integration hell and I'll be glad when it's finally over.

Hi guys, just got a new ("pre-loved") TiVo HD for Christmas from the parents and finally got it home tonight to get a CableCARD in it. I had already completed the guided setup and stuff at my parents' house in SoCal, so I thought all I had to do was slam the CableCARD in it, call to have Comcast pair it and I'd be good to go. I had my roommate pick up an M-Card from the San Jose Comcast office that's right down the street from our place (they handed it over to her no questions asked, which I thought was a little weird, but I got my card so it's all good).

Anyway, I got home, plugged it in and it installed the Fall 2008 software update. After that finished, I slid in the CableCARD and embarked on Call #1 to Comcast. Read the Host and Data info to the CSR, she hits the card, TiVo starts downloading the channel map and she tells me I'm good to go. I get off the phone with her before I've tested all of my channels, which was my first mistake of the night. Lo and behold, I'm only getting the limited basic and broadcast HD channels--none of the other channels that I previously got with my Comcast HD box.

I wait a few minutes, then call Comcast again. CSR #2 confirm the CableCARD info, and send a few hits to the box. No dice. He schedules a tech visit, first appointment when Comcast and I are mutually available isn't until Wednesday. No way I'm sitting here with a TiVo HD that's practically useless to me until Wednesday.

So I gave up for a while, and then decided to follow the process for viewing an encrypted channel's Conditional Access screen. It was showing "Auth: MP," which according to the TiVo's support guide is another CableCARD error. Dug around this site a bit, and apparently the first CSR never sent an initialization hit to the CableCARD. Time to pick up the phone and dial 1-800-COMCAST again.

This time, I think I've gotten a decent CSR since he seems to have dealt with CableCARDs and TiVos before. I told him that I think I need an initialization hit, and he sends that command after again verifying the CableCARD serial number (first time we verified that one) and the Host/Data info. After he sent the initialization hit, BAM. All the channels came in. Then he started to tell me he's helped a lot of customers with TiVos, and how he thinks the TiVo software is "far superior" than the Comcast boxes. No duh...but at least some people within Comcast are competent enough to realize their product is mostly crap.

Bottom line: look for that "Auth: MP" message on the Conditional Access screen for an encrypted channel. If it's there, call Comcast and ask for that initialization hit. It works.

Well... now Comcast is charging my area 6.95 per cable card. That puts it at a buck less than a comcast dvr itself. Anyone else find this ridiculous?

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Makes PERFECT Sense to me.

Here is the LOGIC.

They want you on their DVR instead of an independent DVR.

WHY?

Because with their DVR you can order VOD.

They makes LOTS of EXTRA money from that service which they
lose from non-Comcast DVR's. Therefore lets try to make the extra
bucks by continually jacking up the CableCard Prices until we get
them to switch.

Well... now Comcast is charging my area 6.95 per cable card. That puts it at a buck less than a comcast dvr itself. Anyone else find this ridiculous?

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That does sound outrageous. Does your rate card have a listing for CableCARD (dual CableCARD for non-Comcast HD PVRs requiring two cards) if you have a Series 3? And does this mean that you aren't getting the first one free with the primary outlet (our rate card show CableCARD - primary outlet rental charge as No Charge)?

There seems to be confusion about if HD channels can be received on Limited Basic service. Only local broadcast HD channels (such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CW) are available on the limited basic package, and yes they come in just fine with a cablecard. If you want additional HD channels such as TNT, Sci-Fi, ESPN, Discovery etc, then you will need to upgrade to a higher level of service which does require that a trap on your line be removed.

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I need some clarification on this subject. Currently I have a series-3 HD XL box connected to Comcast with limited service. I get channels 1-31 plus a bunch of digital channels with numbers like 85-104. This is fine with me except that the program guide doesn't correlate so I am unable to record from any digital channel except by setting up a manual recording. Reading through this forum, I got the impression that I could use a cablecard to translate these digital channels to regular numbers that would appear in the Program Guide.

But, when the Comcast service guy called to set up the appointment, he convinced me that I would actually LOSE channels because the cable card would take over the channel lineup and effectively block the ones I am not technically paying for.

Trying to get my new Tivo HD set up with cablecards but Comcast ATL insist that I must use two multistream cards and of course pay an additional $1.50 for the second card.

I think Ill just have them bring the two cards (since one may not work anyway) and after the first is installed insist the installer take the second back with him. They surely cant charge me when I have only taken one cablecard from them (hopefully their system would only show the one cablecard active on my account as well).

Also, with the packages such as Digital Preferred, are you guys getting HD stations as well because of course they insist that is $7 extra too.

I need some clarification on this subject. Currently I have a series-3 HD XL box connected to Comcast with limited service. I get channels 1-31 plus a bunch of digital channels with numbers like 85-104. This is fine with me except that the program guide doesn't correlate so I am unable to record from any digital channel except by setting up a manual recording. Reading through this forum, I got the impression that I could use a cablecard to translate these digital channels to regular numbers that would appear in the Program Guide.

But, when the Comcast service guy called to set up the appointment, he convinced me that I would actually LOSE channels because the cable card would take over the channel lineup and effectively block the ones I am not technically paying for.

Cablecards are a security device, which when inserted will scramble encrypted channels until your subscribed channels are authorized for viewing. When the card is properly paired and authorized, only the channels that are included in the package that you subscribe to will display. You will need to rerun guided setup. When you enter your zip code the TiVo service knows which channel lineup to download to your TiVo. In about 24 hours the Guide data should have program information for about 2 weeks in advance which will allow you to browse through your programming and set future programs to record.

As far as losing channels, it sounds like the Qam tuner is picking up channels which would display channel numbers like 85.1 etc, so I don't know in your case if the Qam tuner is picking up channels which are not part of your cable package.

Also, with the packages such as Digital Preferred, are you guys getting HD stations as well because of course they insist that is $7 extra too.

Thanks

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At least with our Comcast franchise there is no additional charge to receive the HD version of channels that are in the package that you subscribe to. I have Digital Preferred with 1 premium channel and get 30 HD channels plus the HBO HD channel. I think the only HD channels that I don't get are the other premium ones (Cinemax, Showtime and Starz) and NFL Network HD which is part of the Sports & Entertainment package.

Trying to get my new Tivo HD set up with cablecards but Comcast ATL insist that I must use two multistream cards and of course pay an additional $1.50 for the second card.

I think Ill just have them bring the two cards (since one may not work anyway) and after the first is installed insist the installer take the second back with him. They surely cant charge me when I have only taken one cablecard from them (hopefully their system would only show the one cablecard active on my account as well).

Also, with the packages such as Digital Preferred, are you guys getting HD stations as well because of course they insist that is $7 extra too.

Thanks

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The person you spoke to may be confused as to which TiVo unit needs 2 cards in order to decrypt both tuners. The Series 3 requires a card for each tuner, the HD DVR will work with just 1 Multi-Stream card inserted in slot 1. If an M-card is inserted in slot 1, any card inserted in slot 2 will be ignored (HD DVR only). As far as packages it depends on which HD channels you want to receive. If you do not currently subscribe to a digital package then you will receive only the local broadcast HD channels. If you want HD channels such as TNT, ESPN, Discovery etc then you do need to subscribe to the digital package that those channels are included in. Each market has different rates, package names and policies.

The CARD is considered the Extra Digital Outlet since without it
there is no digital channels that can be received [aka decoded]!

That is how Comcast lists the CARD Charge.

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Comcast doesn't charge us for an additional digital outlet for each cableCARD. You get the first one free as part of the primary outlet and then they charge you $2.00 for the second one if required on the same primary outlet for the original TiVo Series 3. The rate card lists this second one a cableCARD (dual CableCARD for non-Comcast HD PVRs requiring two cards).

If we had a second TiVo with cableCARDs, that would require another outlet charge which is $3.00 here for a Digital Starter, Classic, or Preferred additional outlet. It's unclear whether the first cableCARD would be free on the additional outlet or whether we'd have to pay $4.00 for 2 cableCARDs. We'll find out soon as I plan on getting cableCARDs for our second TiVo.

They makes LOTS of EXTRA money from that service which they
lose from non-Comcast DVR's. Therefore lets try to make the extra
bucks by continually jacking up the CableCard Prices until we get
them to switch.

It's the OLDEST marketing trick in the BOOK. "CONTROL THE CUSTOMER"

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VOD is a FREE service included with any digital package. The Network stations provide the VOD content to cable companies which in turn provide that same VOD programming to their customers. Cable co DVR rental fees are nothing more than a fee for renting their equipment; it is not a "marketing trick" to make money off of VOD. If a customer wants to order Pay-Per-View content such as boxing or recently release DVD's, iN DEMAND Networks-not the cable company-controls that content and receives the fees for any programming ordered by the customer.

I just got a Tivo HD for Xmas and I have the comcast cable guy coming out to put in my M-Card this Friday and I was wondering if it is best for me to hook up the tivo and update all the software before he gets here?

I just got a Tivo HD for Xmas and I have the comcast cable guy coming out to put in my M-Card this Friday and I was wondering if it is best for me to hook up the tivo and update all the software before he gets here?

Thanks.

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YES. The TiVo needs an internet connection in order to connect with the TiVo server, so determine ahead of time if you will use a wireless, dial-up or cable modem connection. If you already have a cable jack in the room with your TiVo and have an extra coaxial cable, connect the coax to the "Cable in" jack on the TiVo and verify if you can pick up unencrypted channels. This indicates if the TiVo is receiving a signal. You need to run the Guided Setup. By doing this before the installer arrives, it will help make the installation go smoother.

YES. The TiVo needs an internet connection in order to connect with the TiVo server, so determine ahead of time if you will use a wireless, dial-up or cable modem connection. If you already have a cable jack in the room with your TiVo and have an extra coaxial cable, connect the coax to the "Cable in" jack on the TiVo and verify if you can pick up unencrypted channels. This indicates if the TiVo is receiving a signal. You need to run the Guided Setup. By doing this before the installer arrives, it will help make the installation go smoother.

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Great. Thanks. I am hard wired with an ethernet cable to my network. Just wanted to be sure I should update it myself to the newest software.